Legacy of Steel Page 26

  "Oh, no, you don't!" Sara shouted forcefully. She caught the second in three running strides and cut him nearly in half as she passed by. The last goblin dashed as fast as his bowed legs could run across the muddy clearing toward the trail.

  Sara stopped, pulled the dagger from her belt, and hurled it toward the running goblin. The knife caught him neatly between the shoulder blades and knocked him sprawling. The clearing fell silent.

  Sara looked around in satisfaction. The goblins were gone or dead, and Cobalt was busy cleaning up. A night of searching the swamp had made him very hungry.

  She hurried to the two knights where they lay near the treasure they had fought over. One quick glance told her the Solamnic was already dead. His face was white and rigid with death; a pool of blood congealed under his body. Sadly Sara covered his face with his cloak.

  Afraid of what she might find, Sara slowly knelt by Derrick's body and checked his pulse under his jaw. To her everlasting delight, his skin was still warm and pliable, and a weak heartbeat fluttered under the pressure of her fingers.

  "Cobalt!" she shouted.

  The dragon hurried to her summons. Swiftly Sara bound Derrick's wounds, then bundled the young knight in her own cloak. With Cobalt's help, she lifted him into the saddle. She held him tightly as the dragon flew back to Solace.

  Cobalt gave the citizens of Solace a terrible fright by landing at the edge of the vallenwoods. Voices rose in shouts of warning and fear at the sight of a large blue dragon dropping out of the sky. People came running to investigate. Ignoring the hubbub, Cobalt delivered Sara and the wounded knight to the foot of the inn. As Caramon and Tika rushed out the door, he lifted his head, gave them a wink, and flew away before the people decided to take arms against him.

  Tika threw aside her initial shock and ran down the stairs to help Sara. Caramon followed more slowly. Together the three carried Derrick up to the inn and put him to bed. After a careful examination, Tika and Sara found the young man was very lucky. He had had enough sense to put a tourniquet on his leg just long enough to stop the bleeding before he passed out. He was still unconscious, pale from loss of blood and exposure, but with care, food, and bed-rest, Tika thought he would survive.

  He was sleeping soundly, his leg bandaged and his minor wounds cleaned, when Sara left him in Tika's care and went to call Cobalt again. There was one more thing she wanted to do before sunset.

  They flew back to the clearing and collected the Solamnic's body and the pile of spoils from the giant's hut. The knight had fought well against the giant, and Sara felt he did not deserve to be left as carrion for goblins and swamp creatures. Although the combination of two humans and a pile of boxes made a heavy load for the dragon, Cobalt carried it all without complaint back to Solace.

  By this time, Caramon had explained to the town's elders that the blue dragon who kept popping in and out was not dangerous and was actually helping a friend of his. When Cobalt returned with the dead man and the treasure, there were wary but willing volunteers to help Sara untie the body and the collection of bags and boxes. The giant's spoils were put in the inn for safekeeping until Sara could decide what to do about them. The Solamnic knight was buried with honor in a small grave-yard just outside the town, near the graves of Sturm Brightblade and Tanin Majere.

  The last thing Cobalt did before retiring for a well-deserved rest was take Lemmi and Badger Coltsfoot for a ride. Keeping his grumbling to himself, he flew them over Crystalmir Lake, circled Solace, and passed over the edge of the vast Darkenwood. By the time he landed, the two kender were nearly incoherent with excitement.

  Sara scratched his eye ridges in thanks. "Rest well, my friend," she said softly. "I promise not to bother you again, at least tonight."

  The dragon huffed a cloud of steam. "Was no bother," he said gruffly, and he left to seek a secluded cave for some peace and quiet.

  That night Sara stayed in a chair beside Derrick, keeping watch by his side.

  Day was creeping soundlessly into the inn when the young knight woke up to find himself in a bed in a strange place, with no idea how he got there. He lay still and gazed at the ceiling for a long time. He remembered the hateful circumstances that brought him to death's door, but he could not remember anything beyond tightening the tourniquet on his leg. He should be dead.

  Someone moved beside him, and he turned his head to see Sara in the chair by his bed. Her eyes slowly opened, like curtains pulled back on a sunny window. He stared at her in astonishment. Something had happened to her that had erased years from her face. Her gray eyes were brighter and more full of life than he remembered. Lines of worry were gone; the drab color of her skin had freshened to sun-kissed peach; the tension he had always seen in her expression had softened to a shimmering joy. Instead of the condemnation he expected to see in her face, she gave him a dazzling smile.

  She moved her chair closer and took his hand in hers. "Derrick…"

  "I'm sorry," he blurted out. "I shouldn't have left like that. "

  Her fingers tightened over his. "No, probably not. But I understand why you felt betrayed." She leaned forward to rest her elbows on the edge of the bed so she could see his face. "Derrick, please believe that I never intended to deliberately mislead all of you. I came to like you all much more than I ever imagined, and I saw a great deal of potential in each one of you." She shook her head at the irony of her emotions. "I was hoping that if I stayed just a little longer in Neraka, I could help you see that the Knights of Takhisis cannot offer you what you want, that there is more that you can do for this world then serve a missing goddess."

  He gave a grim laugh and threw his arm up over his eyes. "I can't even be good at that. I turned on a partner, Sara. I fought him for mere treasure simply because he disagreed with me and because he challenged me. And I hated it! But I couldn't stop myself. Is that what the Dark Knights have done to me?"

  He lowered his arm and met her sympathetic gaze with bitter eyes. "I killed that knight, didn't I?" When she nodded, he gritted his teeth as if in pain. "We shouldn't have fought over something so insignificant. All we wanted to do was dispose of the spoils so the goblins wouldn't get it. But neither of us would budge. A compromise seemed so weak. All I could think of was trying to obey the Code and my oath to the knighthood and how that treasure would help the talon buy new weapons and food."

  "What did the Solamnic want to do with it?"

  "Give it back to the victims. I told him that would be impossible. Much of the treasure had been there for years. Many of the victims were probably in the walls of that foul hut. He still insisted he knew some of them-like those two girls who fled when we attacked the giant. But he wanted it all! That didn't seem fair. I had fought for it, too."

  Even as he tried to explain, Sara heard the edge of anger creeping back into his voice. Derrick heard it, too and bit off his last complaint. "Gods, I sound pathetic. I'll never make a good knight."

  "No, I don't think so either," Sara said lightly, and she laid a finger on his lips to stem any response. "Despite what you think now, you are too honorable for Takhisis. You made a mistake, but you have survived to rectify it. Now, since you cannot move from that bed, you will lie there and listen to me. There is something else I think I can offer you."

  First, to clear any lingering doubts between them, she explained her reasons for going to Neraka in the first place, then once again she told about her experience in the tomb. Derrick lay still at first, then struggled upright and stared at her in growing wonder.

  When she finished, she pulled out the star jewel from her tunic and laid it in his hand. "I am going to use this sign from Steel as a beginning, and I want you to join me I am going to form a third order in Krynn, a legion if you will, of men and women who are dedicated to selflessness and service. We will help where we are needed, and we will strive to do what is right, not what some power-hungry general or antiquated code demands we do. It will have to be a secret order for now, to protect our members. If you leave the Knights o
f Takhisis, you will be condemned as a traitor, as I am. But if you join me, we will do what we can to help the people of Krynn in a way the Knights of Takhisis and Solamnia never could."

  Sara heard a slight sound at the door and swiftly twisted around to see Tika and Caramon standing in the doorway, their expressions frozen in rapt attention. Tika held a forgotten breakfast tray in her hands.

  "Great gods of Krynn, Sara," Caramon said slowly. "Is this something you really want to do?"

  "More than anything." She rose to her feet and faced her friends. "For the first time since Steel left, I have something to believe in again. This is something I can do for Krynn, not just for me or for Steel. I believe it will work."

  Derrick cleared his throat. "You could call it the Legion of Steel."

  Sara's fingers touched the star jewel in his hand. "That will do perfectly."

  "legion of Steel," Tika murmured. "I like it."

  Caramon didn't say anything, and Tika could see his mind was at work. She brushed past him and set the tray of food on a small table beside the bed. She left again to fetch some tarbean tea, and by the time she returned with it, Caramon was still standing by the door.

  He seemed to stand a little straighter, and his face glowed from an inner resolution. "It's been done before, you know," he was telling Sara and Derrick. "In fact, both knightly orders began with visions and quests. Why not a third? Stay here, Sara. Make Solace your headquarters. My inn and my aid are yours for the asking."

  Tika couldn't have been more pleased. She was an excellent judge of character and circumstance, and something about this whole vision and legacy seemed right. Echoing her husband's enthusiasm, she carried the teapot and mugs to the bed. "You would do well to follow her, young Derrick. You may not find wealth or glory in her service, but you will attain honor and self- respect and perhaps do some good for this war-torn land."

  A hint of a smile erased some of Derrick's sadness. "That was all I wanted from the beginning." He held out his hand to Sara, who clasped it fiercely. "If you will have me, I will join your legion… heart and soul."

  And so it happened that the Legion of Steel began with one and doubled its size in just one morning. But Sara was not content to leave it at that. She decided to try to increase her numbers—by returning to Neraka.

  Caramon and Tika were appalled when she gathered her cloak two mornings later and told them what she was going to do.

  Caramon thrust himself between the door and Sara and crossed his arms, an immovable wall. "Sara, don't be a fool! If you go back to Neraka, they will kill you. Then your legion will be nothing more than one wounded renegade boy!"

  Sara lifted her eyebrows. "I don't think so," she said mildly. "General Abrena sent me here in the first place She is expecting me to return. I will go back just long enough to talk to the members of the talon. I have a feeling one or two others would make better legionnaires than Dark Knights. After all we have been through together, they deserve a chance to change their minds."

  "But how will you escape the city again? You yourself said the fortress is heavily guarded," Tika pointed out.

  Caramon jabbed a thick finger at Sara before she had the opportunity to reply. "And how would you keep the ones who do not join from betraying you?"

  Tika nodded vigorously and added her own protests. "And how do you know the lord knights have not already learned of your treason? You could be arrested the instant you stepped foot in the city."

  "I know, I know!" Sara held up her hands to ward off the barrage of questions. "Or, rather, I don't really know. I am aware of the danger. I've spent more than three months in Neraka! But this is something I have to do. For them. For me. To prove to them that I did not deceive them, that honor can be one's life."

  Caramon slowly pulled his lips up in a smile. "Sturm would have liked you."

  Tika looked from one to the other and knew the argument was lost. She had rarely known anyone with Sara's persistence, and if Caramon was ready to back down this quickly, there wasn't much point in continuing alone.

  "Well," she said, rummaging briskly around the bar, "if you are going, you'd better take some food with you. Don't worry about Derrick. We'll get him back on his feet. Just keep that dragon close to you. I've never seen a blue as devoted as that one." She shouted the last sentence as she walked into the kitchen and returned carrying a small loaf of bread.

  Sara watched, bemused, as she packed the bread, a bottle of ale, cheese, and some dried apples in a bag and walked across the floor. "What do you want to do with that pile of boxes from the giant's hoard?"

  Taking the bag with a word of thanks, Sara said, "Let Derrick decide." She pulled on her fur-lined cloak. She was about to walk out the door, then hesitated and stopped in front of Caramon. "Caramon… if something happens so I don't make it back… will you take my information about General Abrena and the knights to the remnants of the Solamnics?"

  He regarded her gravely before moving aside. "There are some I know in Sancrist. I will tell them."

  "Thank you, my friends," Sara said and left before either Caramon or Tika had another chance to change her mind.

  25

  Sara and Cobalt returned to Neraka shortly after noon the next day. Little had changed in the sprawling fortress. The filthy snow still clogged the streets, smoke still rose in grayish pall from hundreds of stoves and campfires, and the population of ogres, goblins, draconians, and humans still eked out an existence like maggots in a corpse. Despite Sara's fondest wish, the city had not been swallowed whole by a bottomless chasm while she was gone.

  The winged guards still flew above the city as well, and they were quick to escort Cobalt to the open court next to the governor-general's palace.

  Sara patted the big blue's shoulder after dismounting. "You may go feed if you wish."

  "I wish to stay close by," he rumbled softly, his head close to hers. "Only a crazy human would walk back into a trap like this." Cobalt had not approved of Sara's plan to fly back to Neraka, but when she threatened to take a boat back across the New Sea, he reluctantly agreed. On his back, at least she wouldn't drown.

  "I will be as quick as I can," she promised.

  "Humph," he snorted and settled down to wait.

  Governor-General Abrena had received word from her guards of Sara's arrival and waited for her in the map room. Her sleek blond hair gleamed in the light of a roaring fire, and her body moved sensuously in tight, pale-gold leather.

  Sara rarely disturbed herself with matters of appearance, but the lithe general always made her feel plain and rather dumpy, especially when she had to wear that hideous black uniform.

  Stifling a chuckle at herself, Sara saluted the general.

  Mirielle stood at her table, staring down at the map model. She paid no attention to Sara's salute. "You're back quickly. Did you have success?"

  Sara had plenty of time to concoct an explanation. "We reached the tomb with no difficulty and stayed close by for several days. We saw nothing more than plain walls and some names on the stone. There is little there for you, General, beyond the reminder of what it is to live with honor."

  Mirielle shot a swift, hard glance at Sara. "And they died with it," she snapped. "Now we take what they left for us and move on. So Takhisis did not deign to give us a sign… ." She smacked her palm on the edge of the table and began to pace irritably in front of the fire. "You are not the first to fail. I have sent others to places of importance to our cause, and they all report the same— silence. Perhaps our goddess is gone for good after all." She glared balefully at the fire. "Why did you not stay longer? Where is the knight who went with you?"

  "He was killed," replied Sara without emotion. "A party of elves came to the tomb and discovered who we were. They drove us away." She thought elves would be a good choice, since the Dark Knights hated them with a passion and would accept any sort of hinted elven villainy.

  Mirielle curled her lip. "Elves." The word was a curse on her lips. She waved Sara away. "You may go
. Report to Lord Knight Cadrel for a new assignment."

  Sara made a mental apology to elves everywhere for maligning their reputation, turned smartly on her heel, and exited the room before the general thought of something else for her to do. She hurried back to Cobalt.

  "Do we leave now?" the blue asked when he saw her coming.

  "Not yet. I'm supposed to report to Lord Cadrel."

  "That festering old grump?"

  "Fortunately the general did not say when, so let's go find the talon and see if we can talk to them now."

  Cobalt was off the ground and winging into the air so fast he nearly blew Sara out of the saddle. Soaring over Neraka, he spotted Squall and Howl out beyond the practice fields near the Red Quarter and flew to join them.

  Marika, Kelena, and Argathon were there with the dragons and several others practicing the use of the lance. Sara was disappointed to notice the others were not present.

  The girls came running to meet her, their pleasure clear on their unguarded faces. Argathon followed more slowly, as if hesitant of his welcome. Sara made sure to include him in her warm greetings. She liked the fair youth and had a suspicion that he, like Saunder and the girls, did not have the brutal core or the drive necessary to be a devout follower of Takhisis.

  "How was your journey?" Kelena asked.

  Marika said at the same time, "Where's Derrick?"

  "Are you here to stay for a while?" Argathon inquired.

  "I will answer all of your questions as soon as everyone is all together. Where are the others?"

  Marika told her, "Saunder and Kazar are on patrol with Knight Officer Treb."

  Sara's eyes narrowed. She didn't like the sound of that. "Knight Officer?" she repeated.

  Kelena grimaced. "We heard she slept with Lord Cadrel to get the position."

  Sara was shocked. "Oh, even Treb wouldn't do that."